Shigeru is the rival of Satoshi from the Pokémon Zensho manga and directly based on Blue of the original games. He is Professor Oak's grandson. He and his sister, Daisy Oak, were raised by their grandfather after their parents died in a car accident.

Contents

History

Shigeru began his journey at the age of 10 around the same time as Satoshi. He chose a Squirtle seeing that it would be the type-advantage of Satoshi's choice, Charmander. During their first battle, Squirtle was easily beaten by Charmander despite the type-advantage. He has another battle with him on the S. S. Anne with the results being the same as the previous battle. The battle they had causes Satoshi's Charmander to evolve into a Charmeleon. When Satoshi reached Fuchsia City, he and Satoshi were at a Safari Zone with Satoshi catching a Ditto and a Dratini, with the latter being given away to a fisherman. Shigeru ends up battling and defeating Sabrina in Saffron City, which made Sabrina depressed. Two chapters later around the end, he has his Pidgeot attack Satoshi's Charizard while he was midair, marking his first and only win against Satoshi. In Indigo Plateau, he ends up becoming the champion of the Pokémon League after defeating the Elite Four. He challenges Satoshi for the final time after he defeated the Elite Four too, with his Blastoise against Charizard. During the midst of their battle, one of the pillars fall down and is headed for Shigeru. Satoshi pushes Shigeru out of the way which becomes the start of their friendship. Since they are now friends instead of rivals, both of them go to the Cerulean Cave to look for the legendary Pokémon, Mewtwo.

Personality and characteristics

Like his game counterpart, he has a disdain for Satoshi but has trouble feeling empathy with his own Pokémon. He's slightly more villainous, attacking Satoshi in midair.

Pokémon

Squirtle → Wartortle → Blastoise

Blastoise is Shigeru's starter Pokémon, obtained as a Squirtle. He chose it as it had the type-advantage against Satoshi's Charmander. In most of its appearances, it was seen battling with Charmander and lost despite having that advantage. One of those battles that took place on the S.S. Anne caused Charmander to evolve into Charmeleon. Squirtle was not seen again until Satoshi battled the champion which turned out to be his rival, Shigeru. At this point, Squirtle had already evolved into Blastoise, where it went up against Satoshi's Charizard that evolved from the Charmander earlier on.

It is unknown where Shigeru got Venusaur but it was seen with Professor Oak around the end of the chapter when he was explaining to Satoshi and Shigeru about a rare cave that contained the legendary Pokémon, Mewtwo.

Trivia

He shares his name with Gary Oak from Pokémon anime. However, he is based on Blue, not Gary, so his name actually comes from the optional names from game, not the anime character's name. If Pokémon Zensho was released in English language, he would possibly be named Gary, but the manga was never released outside Asia. A similar situation applies to Satoshi, Shigeru's rival and Haruka from Pokémon Chamo-Chamo ☆ Pretty ♪.